Staying Motivated for Success

 Do you struggle to stay motivated?

 

Do you find that you hit one minor bump in your goals and struggle to carry on?

 

Here we look at some psychological theories of motivation - and how they may apply to you. 

There are four important theories of motivation. These are:

• Achievement Goal Orientation - Are we focused on mastery or the outcome?
• Attribution Theory - Are the factors that determine our successes and failures what motivates us?
• Self-Determination Theory - Are Intrinsic or Extrinsic factors our motivators?
• Need Achievement Theory - Are we focusing on achieving success or on avoiding 'failure'. 

 

The Achievement Goal Orientation suggests that we are either motivated to become better ourselves (mastery) or by beating others (outcome). It argues that by focusing on improving ourselves we have better control of success and are therefore more motivated. By focusing on beating others we can easily give up, and make excuses, rather than control our success. 

 

The Attribution Theory suggests that we are more motivated based on how we explain how we have succeeded or 'failed' in the past.  By associating our successes  controllable and stable factors, such as tactics or ability, we are more likely to feel motivated. However, associating our successes with uncontrollable or unstable factors, such as other peoples behaviours and luck, can easily leave us feeling demotivated. Again, we need to take control our success.

 

The Self-Determination Theory suggests we are motivated by either intrinsic or extrinsic factors. Extrinsic factors include a lot of regulations, often from other people or rewards. Intrinsic factors include enjoyment, pleasure and satisfaction, which leaves us feeling much better and much more motivated. Don't let others regulate your success, take control of it yourself! 

 

Finally, the Need Achievement Theory suggests that high achievers focus on succeeding. Lower achievers focus on not 'failing'. Here, perception plays a large part of our success. If we focus on not 'failing', our 'failures' seem much worse and demotivating. By focusing on achieving success we can view our 'failures' as an opportunity to learn. You may have noticed that any form of 'fail' is in apostrophes, because to me it is impossible to 'fail', we only get opportunities to learn. Don't try not to 'fail', chase your success. 

 

So, what does this mean for you. Firstly, take a look at what motivates you, and see where it lays within the theories. Make sure you are motivated for yourself, don't exercise to look good for others, exercise because you enjoy it! Don't say you just got lucky, recognise your own abilities and strengths! Don't exercise to beat anyone else, exercise to prove to yourself that you can do this! 

 

And, with any motivation, DO NOT avoid 'failure'. Take any lessons you can, build up your experiences, learn from your mistakes, and succeed! 

 

Let me know what your motivations are (or were) below!